Parachute



Jan. 5, 1932.

L. S. ROCKOFF PARACHUTE Filed Dec. 12, 1928 Patented Jan. 5, 1932 1 Louss. 13.0(31( With-01?GHIG'JLtiO.ILIII ITOIB ran-scam Y ama filedDecember 1a, 1928. Serial mascara,

This invention. relates to improvements in parachutes and has as itsprincipal obysct' the provision of meanswhereby articles-such asthis'ma'y berendered inefiectiveior actuaf tionby windsfto draga personor'objectoyer the ground after" an otherwise safe landmg has beenaccomplished.

The invention h'as a's afu ther object the accom lishment of the aboveand other ebjects t rough the medium of means under the manual controlor will of the person, which meanswill not interfere with arranging ofthe parachute so that it may be attached to and carried by the ireleased when foun' necessary.

- The invention has these and other objects all of which will beexplained in detail and more readily understood when read in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, which illustrate various arrangementswhereby the invention may be accomplished, it b.8-

iug therefore obvious that other changes and j modifications may beresorted to without departing from the spirit of the appended claimsforming a part hereof.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a side view of an air lane having" a parachuteassociated therewit and means for rendering the parachute inefiectivefor ac tuation by winds.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the parachute shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a detail view of a portion of the structure shown in Fig. 1.Figs. 4 and 5 are plan views of a parachute having a modified structureapplied thereto... Figs. 6 and 7 are detail views of a means.-

for securing a binder cord together and means u ducethe area againstwhichthe wind may act.

for releasing the ends of the cord.

'40 Fig. 8 is another modified construction", The embodiment of theinvention shown' in Fig. 1 is illustrated as attached to an air,

plane 10. This construction of the iDV8Iltion contemplates providing thebuo or body:

portion 11 with a plurality of ra ially are ranged members'12'whichprojectfrom the ed e 13 of the parachute and are each pro v1 ed with apart providing an efyelet 14," through each of which one end 0 a draw1'. cord or rope 15 is passed. The opposite end itjmay be release ersonor article and be] inju 'to the person or .parac ute is attached. Tesupportin cords 'or' cables 19'of the parachute may, i so desired, besecured to the'body portion of the of said cord or rope is rovided witha loop 16 through which said t mentioned end is also passed. Thetermination 17 of the draw cord or rope may be secured to a Windlass 18secured to the air lane, in which airplane 56 the parachute mag housedand from which This arrangement just described is designed to providemeans for drawing the e geof the body portion 11 together to thus 66'contract the body portion, as it is evident that as the draw cord orrope'is wound u on the Windlass, the draw cord will slide relatively tothe eyelets 14 and loop 16 and cause the edge 13 of the bod portion tobe drawn togeth'er so. that win or other ressure will be prevented fromacting u on t e parachute to cause the distention of t e parachute,which will thus render the parachute inefiective to drag theperson'orplane, and thus prevent 70 lane to which the parachute byhaving the draw cord or rope 76 passed through loops 20 provided in theends of said cables 19. v p

The above structure shown in Fig. 4 contem lates a construction in whicha portion of t e body of the buoy may be released from 80 anotherportion thereof to thereby reduce the area of theportion which forms thebuoy.

In this structure the arachute is composed of 'two' portions 21 an 22.The outer portion 21 has supports such as 19 of Fig. 1 secured in theordinary manner to the outer edge thereof, the inner portion 22 beingdesigned to be released from the outer portion and thus rebe freed fromthe outer section.-

" Oneniethod of rele'asably securing the ends of thebinder cord25together is shown in "Figs; 6 and 7, which contemplates binding theopposite ends of said cord together by means of a strip of tape 26 andsecuring a piece of wire 27 to one'of said ends and arrangin a portionof said wire between the ends 0 the cord and the tape with a suitablelength of the wire extended beyond the taped ortion. A pull cord 28 isattached to this ast mentioned portion of the piano wire, it beinunderstood that the pull cord extends to a location where it isaccessible to the user of the parachute. When it is desired to releasethe inner section 22 from the outer p0rtion of this structure a pullupon the pull cord 28 will cause the wire 27 to sever the ta e 26 andfree the ends of the binder cord whic when separated, allows the releaseof the inner section 22 from the outer section 21, which reduces theresistance offered to the wind and thus will revent the person orarticle from being d i'agged or upset after landing.

The device shown in Fig. 5 contemplates forming the body portion of theparachute of two separable halves 29 and 30 which are secured togetherby binder cords 31 and 32 and eyelets, respectively designated 33 and34, provided along the edges of each half.

In t

is construction the outer end of each cord is fastened to one of theparachute halves and the inner ends are secured with each other, asshown at 35, by means of tape e which is severed to allow the release oft cords as previously described.

In the structure shown in Fig. 8 a pull cord 36 is secured to the centerof the parachute body 37. This cord is attached to a Windlass, such aspreviously described with reference to Fig. 1, and is employed to drawthe body of the parachute to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig.8, which will also prevent the parachute and the wind 00- o crating witheach other, to upset and drag is e article or person along the ground.

From the foregoing description it is manitest that a simple means isprovided whereby a parachute may be rendered ineffective for actuationby winds to drag a person or article along the ground after landing.

Having thus described my invention what Iclairn and desire to cover byLetters Patent 1. A arachute having means for rendering said parachuteineffective for operation by air pressure, said means including detacha1y connected body portions and means for controlling said firstmentioned means, said last mentioned means including a pull cord.

2. A arachute having means for rendering sai parachute ineffective foroperation. by air pressure, said means including detacha le connectedbody portions which are sev erable from each other for reducing theeffective area of the body portion of said para chute.

3. A parachute having means for rendering said parachute ineffective foroperation by air pressure, said means including detacha le connectedbody portions which are severable from each other for reducing theeffective area of the body portion of said parachute, and means forcontrolling the separation of said body portions.

4. A parachute having means for rendering said parachute ineffective foroperation by air pressure, said means including detachable connectedbody ortions which are severable from each other or reducing theeffective area of the body portion of said arachute, means forcontrolling the se aration of said body portions, and means or severingsaid controlling means to allow one of said body portions to be severedfrom the other.

5. A parachute comprised of a member having supportin cables extendinfrom the periphery thereo said member aving an opening at the centerthereof, a member closing said opening, means formin a releasableconnection between the perip e member forming said closure an the edgeof said opening to thereby allow said closure member to be released fromsaid first mentioned member to thereby reduce the effective area of saidparachute.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe inysname this 7th day ofDecember, A. D.

LOUIS S. ROCKOFF.

of said

